The Parenting Project

by frenettek314

Prologue: "Newborn Projects"

Home Economics Class. The bane of most students' existence at Canterlot High. Sure the class in of itself was very practical- many of them were sure they would use the skills they learned one day - but still, who wanted to spend 45 minutes every day - in addition to homework - learning things like cooking, cleaning, and managing a budget?

There was a sort of solace though - at least for 7 teenage girls silently dreading (well, most of them anyway; Pinkie and Fluttershy seemed to enjoy it to some degree) the class they were currently enduring. At least they were all together for this exact period every day.

Of course, blessings had the power to morph into curses at any moment.

The teacher for this class, Mr. Frenette, seemed to be oddly excited today, making the majority of the class gulp in fear. The last time he was this excited was the time he made the class all write stories; this wouldn't be so bad if Applejack's so called "Fanfictions" hadn't been bad enough to make several students cry, yet he seemed to ignore the painful responses of the farmer's short tale as he allowed her to write a second one.

Needless to say, Applejack was the black sheep of the class for a week. Let it be a lesson to never allow her to write again. She still felt a blush on her cheeks whenever someone mentioned Fanfictions around her.

"Alright class," Mr. Frenette finally proclaimed, "I've got some exciting news for you!"

"Ooo!" Pinkie happily chirped in equal excitement, "Is it another 'Spike Journey', perhaps a 'Chronicle'?" she pointed to the dog currently napping in Twilight's backpack (She always pictured him as a dragon for some reason though).

"No, but good thought Pinkie." he warmly dismissed, causing the girl to beam right back.

"I'm going to be giving you a special assignment!" he clapped, earning several nervous glances.

Fluttershy however didn't seem bothered by this. Besides maybe Pinkie, she was probably Mr. Frenette's biggest fan.

"What kind of assignment?" she happily questioned.

"You're all going to be parents!" the man excitedly announced, reaching behind his desk to reveal several baby dolls, each wrapped in a thick cozy blanket and coddled in a tiny little cradle.

Most of the class groaned, not too keen on having to take care of some toy.

"This... doesn't seem too bad..." Sunset airily cautioned, eyeing the toys in confusion.

"And the best part - I'm going to assign you into teams! Each team has to take care of their baby together and bring the resulting doll back tomorrow. If the toy is not brought back in the same, healthy condition you see now, then you fail the assignment."

Rainbow delivered an ice cold glare at Sunset, making her gulp nervously.

"At least it can't get any worse..." the cyan-coated girl muttered.

"Each baby is programmed to require 'makeshift' eating, sleeping, and changing. Do these things right, and your baby will be happy. Failure to do these things though will make your baby cry; I can keep track of how much each baby cries using this monitor here." he pointed to the program on his computer.

Now it was Sunset's turn to glare at Rainbow, making the girl wince at the revenge treatment.

"Alright! As for the teams we have..."

Mr. Frenette proceeded to go around the room, delivering the dolls to the rather miserable teenagers and their partners before he only had 3 babies left.

"...Pinkie and Fluttershy."

"Yes!" Pinkie excitedly cheered at being handed the baby, causing the timid girl next to her to blush.

"Isn't this great - first we're dating and now we have a baby together!" Pinkie squealed, only making Fluttershy's reddening face worse.

"Ummm... yes... she's lovely..." Fluttershy stammered, slowly developing a warm smile at the little toy wrapped in a pink blanket.

"...Sunset and Twilight."

"WHAT?!" both girls exclaimed, Sunset's shocked form being handed the baby.

At the loud exclamation, Spike awoke from inside Twilight's bag with a few yawns.

"What's happening?" he grumbled, catching the attention of the passing teacher.

"Not much. Sunset and Twilight have a kid now."

"Aw. I figured that would happen years from now." the dog nonchalantly stated, only making the two startled teens' conditions worse.

"SPIKE!" Twilight yelped, pushing the dog back into the back with a pink blush on her cheeks while Sunset's whole face silently became as bright red as a tomato.

"...and lastly, I have an odd number of students and an even number of babies so, eh... Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash." he quickly shrugged, before casually tossing the baby on the desk, eliciting a cry from the toy already.

Rarity and Applejack wordlessly acknowledged each other, while Rainbow awkwardly glanced between the two of them.

As each of the pairings processed the project pushed in front of them, the school bell interrupted the thoughts in the room with a loud ring - indicating it was the end of the class period.

"Alright, everyone. See you tomorrow. Good luck!" Mr. Frenette called out, most of the students sighing and grumbling in response.

"Have a good day, Mr. Frenette!" Pinkie and Fluttershy happily cheered, exiting the room with their friends.

"And that's why those two are my favorites." he happily sighed from the chair at his desk, beginning to type out a plan for his next class.

---

Outside of the school, the gang of girls sat around at their normal afternoon spot at the base of the building - directly across from a familiar statue said to possess a kind of magic portal.

"So..." Applejack awkwardly stumbled, "This is a thing."

"Oh, darling. It's no big deal. All we have to do is care for the doll for one night and we're done." Rarity assured, placing a delicate hand on the farmer's back, much to her not so secret enjoyment.

"Yeah. And with me around, our baby will be the best around." Rainbow triumphed in between the pair before she caught second wind of what she just said. "Wait..."

"But what if something goes wrong? What if we are bad parents, what if we..." Twilight began hyperventilating before an orange hand cupped her chin with a small smirk.

"Twilight, it's ok. We're going to be fine - as long as we work together." Sunset promised, though she soon backed her hand away from her friend's face as both girls found themselves blushing again, much to the amusement of everyone else.

"Now I know why Frenette put you two together." Spike snickered, receiving a small glare from the annoyed lavender girl.

"It's not like that, Spike! We're just...friends..." she stammered.

"Yeah... just...friends." Sunset agreed, although her face seemed to twist in a subtle frown not noticed by anyone except for Spike.

"Uh-huh." the dog's eyebrow rose in a deadpan expression. "I suppose he put Pinkie and Fluttershy together when they're already a couple..."

"A perfect couple by the way!" Pinkie exclaimed, rocking the baby back and forth.

"Yeah...perfect...." Fluttershy seemed to quietly smile, though if anyone paid real close attention, they could see her smile tremble.

Though no one seemed to notice as Spike continued.

"...put Rarity and Applejack as a pair as they seem to grow more attached to each other, and put you two together when you each blush at the mention a relationship - all as a mere coincidence."

"That's right! Coincidence! Just random probabilities!" Twilight all too quickly assured, much to Sunset's chagrin.

"Wait, what about me?!" quipped an annoyed Rainbow Dash, realizing she was forgotten in the equation.

"Meh. Either like he said there was an odd number of students, or maybe he sees you three as one big couple." Spike smiled, though Rainbow seemed to disagree.

"... nuh-uh. That'd be... that'd be weird." Rainbow awkwardly chuckled, while Rarity and Applejack looked to her with puzzled looks.

"Well guys, as much funny fun fun as we are having, I have to get going and feed Pinkieshy here some cupcakes." Pinkie dismissed, beginning to pack up her things, including the baby that she kept cradled in her arms.

Fluttershy however grew a mixed expression.

"Um... Pinkie? Babies don't eat cupcakes... and besides... it can't actually eat."

Unfortunately for her, Pinkie seemed not to notice as she mindlessly cooed and cradled the baby, leaving Fluttershy secretly feeling annoyed.

"Woah, woah, wait!" Sunset interrupted, catching up to the energetic girl's quote, "Pinkieshy?"

Pinkie only rapidly nodded her head as if Sunset's question was the silliest thing she ever heard.

"Of course! Our babies, silly! This here is Pinkieshy, that one is Sunlight, and over there we have...uh... Rainityjack." Pinkie stumbled a bit at the last baby.

"I do like the name Pinkieshy..." Fluttershy commented with a blush.

"Pinkie! Don't name our child that! It sounds like we're a couple!" Twilight nervously scolded.

"Yeah, wouldn't want that." Sunset grumbled. Spike seemed to notice the her disposition though as he rubbed his head against the girl's leg, the red-head appreciating the gesture as she scratched him behind the ears with a smile.

Rainbow blushed at the name of their baby, before she hastily shrugged it off with a bold demeanor.

"Y-Yeah! We need our baby's name to be something cool, like... Twispike?"

At that name, all three babies began crying spontaneously, the six other girls and dog giving her glares.

"Ok, ok! How about Spikelestia?"

Two of the babies continued crying as Sunlight proceeded to simulate hurling noises, indicating the baby 'vomited'.

"Rainbow! What the hell?!" Sunset narrowed, cradling the baby as best she could.

"UGH! Fine! Rainityjack it is." Rainbow crossed her arms in a slight pout, though her darting eyes told a different story.

The three babies instantly stopped crying, giving off a cute round of giggles instead, seemingly satisfied with the final solution.

"Alright everyone, best of luck on your assignments! We'll see each other tomorrow morning." Twilight stated after all the babies had calmed down, each of the teams giving off their round of goodbyes as they all proceeded to head in different directions.

Despite the goal for the dolls to be properly 'cared' for, each baby was going to find out how well their 'mommies' would work together, as three distinct groups of parents began their own chapters into the lives of nurturing. But could there be something more to each set of parents? Something more than meets the eye?

For better or for worse, each baby would soon discover events more promising than a simple "project".

Meanwhile, back in the classroom, Mr. Frenette - frantically typing on his laptop - paused to view the room of empty chairs once filled with students in front of him. In particular however, he noticed 7 chairs that had been taken by an intriguing group of girls.

"I have a feeling they'll learn more than simple baby-caring." he happily sighed, continuing to type once more.

Author's Note:

References I made this chapter:

"Applejack Writes a Fanfiction" (OLD, Mostly Bad)

"Applejack Writes a Fanfiction Part 2: The Sequel that Has Nothing to Do With the Original" (Also OLD and Mostly Bad)

"Spike's Family Journey"

"Spike's Family Chronicles"

My appreciation for my favorite characters may or may not have been subtle...

And of course, a whole bunch of shipping pair names were teased.

(*Unless it's strictly platonic, Twispike and Spikelestia are a big "NO" for me...*)

Aren't I a clever funny guy?

---

Anyways, check out what happens when the each pair finds themselves working together. What feelings and truths will come out? What things will they learn?

Hope you enjoy reading and find out!

Sincerely,

-frenettek314

Comments

[Mystic Sunrise]

You know. This might have been good, if you'd bothered to stick Twilight and Sunset with someone else. Rarity and Aj is trailer park trash as it is and Sunlight isn't far behind.

Win for Pinkie and Fluttershy pairing if nothing else. Yes I read the story before I said that.

[The Voice in the Water]

Wow, Sunset doesn't want her pairing to be canon at all. Nope.

Well, this will only end well.

[Pete100]

Home Economics Class. The bane of most students' existence at Canterlot High. Sure the class in of itself was very practical- many of them were sure they would use the skills they learned one day - but still, who wanted to spend 45 minutes every day - in addition to homework - learning things like cooking, cleaning, and managing a budget?

My school doesn’t have this so I would probably be glad. Also, why are rd and sunset glaring at each other? Also, what was wrong with what rd said?

[Electrix]

I tried so hard to not start screaming out of sheer happiness from hearing who go paired and their reactions